University exchanges

Taking part in a university exchange is a unique and fascinating experience, provided you prepare for it properly.

The first thing to remember is that you need to start the process well in advance, i.e. minimum one year before your anticipated departure date. For example, if you are aiming to study abroad in the 3rd year of your bachelor’s course, you need to start the process at the start of your 2nd year at the latest.

At the beginning of each academic year, each faculty organises an information session on exchanges, which is important to attend. Each faculty also has a page dedicated to exchanges, where you'll find lots of useful information about your exchange. Links to your faculty's mobility/exchange pages are available on this page.

SASME, the central mobility service, also organises a "Going on an exchange" webinar during the Spring semester to inform you about exchanges in general, the information sessions organised by the faculties and the need to prepare well in advance for an exchange, especially in terms of language (language tests required).

There are different types of university exchange agreement. Make sure you check which type of agreement you are intending to study under, as the deadlines for applying and some of the arrangements are different! See the PDF document in margin "A short guide to mobility".

Once the applications have been received, applicants are selected by a selection committee (made up of faculty representatives and the heads of the International Relations department and SASME) for university-wide agreements (general agreements) or an internal faculty committee for faculty and SEMP agreements.

The main selection criteria are as follows:

• Academic results
• The student’s motivations for taking part in a university exchange and the quality of their plan for the exchange

Once the selection has been made, SASME (for general agreements) or the faculties (for SEMP and faculty agreements) will put forward the names of the students selected to the partner universities. At this stage, it is important to be aware that UNIL’s decision still needs to be accepted by the partner university, which may refuse an application for various reasons (which is why it is important, in particular, to check the admission conditions and any restrictions on access to courses). It is therefore very important to wait for confirmation from the partner university before taking any further steps to organise your exchange.

Since each host university has its own arrangements, information about the procedures you need to follow to enrol at the university and organise your time abroad may be communicated to you directly by the host university or via SASME and/or the mobility coordinator in your faculty or section. In all cases, you will be contacted in good time by one of the organisations referred to above.